Scrap voting and radicals will rise: Joyce

Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce ... "The vast majority in the middle would be worried about getting their kids to the cricket ... and wouldn't turn up to vote."
Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Getting rid of compulsory voting in Queensland would pave the way for radical political movements to push racist and extreme green agendas, Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce says.

The Queensland LNP government on Thursday released a discussion paper unveiling a raft of possible reforms that will be put up for public consultation, including whether voting should be a choice.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the Newman government was playing into the hands of wealthy interest groups, while Treasurer Wayne Swan likened the proposal to something from Joh Bjelke-Petersen's era.

Now Senator Joyce, leader of the Nationals in the Senate, has warned that abolishing compulsory voting would not only reduce attendance at the ballot box but trigger a rise in radical fringe groups.

Rekindled interest in racist agendas such as the White Australian Policy would emerge from the far right, while extreme left groups would push for "a carbon tax on breathing" and an end to development, he said.

"Both these sides would proliferate, because people who are motivated in that way are motivated enough to turn up," the outspoken Queensland senator told ABC radio on Friday.

"But the vast majority in the middle would be worried about getting their kids to the cricket ... and wouldn't turn up to vote."

Senator Joyce said he didn't want Australia to follow the US, where politicians needed to "startle the troops" and campaign to the fringes just to get people "out of bed to vote".

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However, he accused Mr Swan of "hyperventilating" and said the proposal should be subject to a mature debate.

The Newman government says it has no stance either way and it released the discussion paper to uphold integrity and accountability.

The paper quoted a federal parliamentary report from 1996 that argued that voting could only be considered a 'right' if people could exercise a 'right' not to vote, to ensure Australia was considered a "mature democracy".

But it also suggested the removal of compulsory voting could cause "voter confusion", because it would not apply to federal or local elections.